Corner shops tough it out in lockdown misery

The stillness of the night air on Olympic Way is a time warp for Kervin Rose, whose jerk pan was once a crackling cauldron of flavour, wooing palates from near and far.

But nightlife on a road that traditionally hummed with activity has been halted by the coronavirus lockdowns, turning Olympic Way into an economic graveyard.

As the breadwinner of his family, with four children to feed as well as an unemployed, stay-at-home wife, Rose, a cookshop operator, has had to pivot from the jerking of chicken and pork at dusk.

Now he sells the inner-city staples of canned food, flour, and rice at a corner shop.

But even with this new venture, business has been slow, with only four days of operation because of a series of no-movement days set to continue till at least September 14.

The financial bind that has starved Rose of revenue has also strained the pockets of his customers.

He has had to secure a line of credit to purchase stock for his shop - a development he said he had never before had to pursue.

The ongoing curfews have crushed wages in low-income communities like Olympic Way which depend heavily on kerbside industries to survive.

Its impact has been dramatic for several famiies, Rose’s included. With children home around the clock and as online schooling resumed on Monday, food disappears much faster than during the pre-pandemic era.

“If you buy a bag a bag juice, the whole a dem done in a day,” the micro entrepreneur said.

Corner shops have remained a mainstay for poor families even in lockdowns, with families skimping on expenditure to last three no-movement days at a time.

While bulk-buying middle-class shoppers have cleaned off the shelves of supermarkets heading into lockdowns, less-wealthy householders in communities in St Andrew West Central, which Prime Minister Andrew Holness represents, continue to make purchases a bit at a time. That might involve hopscotching across the road and avoiding the glare of patrolling police.

Spoiling produce

A shop owner from Bay Farm Road who gave her name as Glenda pointed to her overripened plantains and other produce on the verge of rot.

Closed for days, her concrete shop has been transformed into an oven for produce purchased on Saturday.

She said that she has been ordered by beat police to “lock up shop”.

“See the plantain. Nobody nah go buy them, and if mi say mi will give them for $70 a finger, mi lose, because a $100 mi pay for one!” she exclaimed.

The corner shop is the only source of income for Glenda, who lives with her son and grandchildren.

But even in the midst of loss, Glenda still offers residents the opportunity to purchase on credit if they cannot readily afford immediate payment.

The Planning Institute of Jamaica recorded growth of 12.9 per cent in the April to June quarter, positive headwinds in an economy that has been battered by the coronavirus.

But with a return to pre-pandemic growth levels a distant reality, corner shops have reportedly found the going tough.

However, some proprietors, like cookshop operator Karen Walker on Penwood Road, have not given up.

Despite a slight decrease in customer traffic, she has described sales as satisfactory, pocketing an average of $20,000 a day.

Like Rose, Walker has had to scale back the quantity of meats she prepares for lunch to avoid spoilage. Her target market during lockdowns is primarily essential and other authorised workers in the community.

Located just across the zones of special operations tent, Walker said that soldiers have learned to wink at the minor indiscretions of the convenience that comes with corner shops in poor communities.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com